Float-valve for centrifugal compressors.



P.B.NORTON. FLOAT VALVE FOR GENTRIFUGAL COMPRESSORS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 16, 1911.

Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

Inventor; Fred E. Norton,

Witnesses E. NORTON,

or LYNN, massacnosnrrs, AssIeNoR T0 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, a CORPORATION or NEW YORK.

FLOAT-VALVE iron cnn'rmrvean comranssoas.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Apr. 29, 1913.

' Application filed August16,1911. Serie1No.644,438.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be'it known that I, FRED E. NORTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynn, county of Essex, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Float-Valves for Centrifugal Compressors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates. to air compressors of the centrifugal type andespecially those used for-supplying air to blast furnaces. In a patent granted to Richard H; Rice, April 27 19( )9,No. 919,953, there is shown an embodiment of such a compressor in which the driving motor is controlled by a float located in an enlargement of the air intake and responsive to variations in the Volume of air passing through said intake,

Under some conditions of operation, there is liable to be a backward flow of air inithe intake, and the present invention has to provide a cushioning or safety device. for-the float so as to make allowance for this back; pressure in the intake, in order to prevent any damage to the regulatin device and avoid any interference with t e' regulation during the period of backward flow of air.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1- is a section of a portion of the intake and float, the latter bein 'equipped with my, cushioning device, and

Fi 2 isan end elevation of the centrifuga compressor, the

intake being broken away to show the float.

- The compressor has a casing 1 supported on abuse 2 and provided with anintake 3' and a delivery nozzle 4." The intake has an enlargement composed of two vfrusto-conical sections 5 and 6 united at their bases and at;

fording a chamber for'the .float. A bridge or yq'ike 7 spans the lower part of said chamber and -affords a guide 'for' the lower end of a stem or rod 8 on which the float is mount ed, the "upperi end of the stem passing through a stufling box 9 and being operatively connected to the driving motor-com trolling devices in any suitable manner.

The float consists of a disk 10 preferably stifi'ened by an annular angle iron 11 and provided with a hub 12 which has a' sliding fit on the stem. A collar 13 may be secured. to the upper sideof the disk to afford a bearing sur ace .to abut against a shoulder 1 4 on the stem. The float; is supported yieldingly by 'a helical spri g 15 which. abuts at its upper end agams I the hub and at its lower conduit SO thELG the air end against a collar 16 slidable on the stem and sustained by a nut 17 and a lock'nut 18 engaging with threads on said stem. By ad usting said nuts, the tension of the spring can be adjusted.

When the direction of flow is upward, the

air acts against the under side of the disk,

and as this is firmly pressed by the spring against the shoulder 14, it exerts a positive thrust on the stem and operates the motorregulating mechanism as usual. But if for,v

any reason there is abackward flow of air,

the spring permits the disk to yield to the 1 pressure on its upper side and slide-downwardly on the stem, so that the latter is not actuated, and the regulating mechanism is not disturbed. Upon a cessation of the backpressure, the spring returns the disk to its normal position 1n engagement with the shoulder.

In accordance with the provisions of the 'patent statutes I have described the principle of my invention, together with the apfparatus which I now consider to represent e best embodiment thereof; but I desire to ave it understood that the apparatus shown only illustrative and that the invention than be carried out by other means.

clalm as new and desire to secure What by Letters Patent of the United States, is,

1. The combination with a connected, of a rod longitudinally and duit and having an a utment thereon, a float arranged in the conduit and of smaller size than the surrounding1 portion of, said ows between its edge and the wall of the conduit, said float being slidably mounted on the rod adjacent the abutmentand riding on the moving column of-air, and spring means carried by the rod that tends to hold the float against the abutment during the flow of the air in the normal direction but permits it'to move conduit through which air is caused to flow by the action of an' air compressor to which it is ion in the op osite directionunder other conditions of ow.

2. The combination with the intake of an air compressor, of a rod axially and slida'bly mounted in a portion of the intake and having-a shoulder thereon, a collar on the and extending outward the curved portion to actuate said controlling device, an-abutment on the rod, adisk-.

rod adjacent to the shoulder and arranged to ride on theincoming column of air, and a sprin arranged between the float and the collar t at tends to hold the float against theflshoulder.

3. A motor driven air compressor having a controlling device for the motor, in combination with a conduit connected to the compressor and through which air is caused to flow by the action of said compressor, the

conduit having a straight portion and a connected curved portion, a rod axially and slidably mounted in the straight portion like float slidably mounted on the rod adjacent to the abutment so as to ride on the K abutment during flow 'move in the opposite direction column ofair flowing through said straight portion, the diameter of the float being less than that of the surrounding portion of the conduit so that the air flows through the annular space between its edge and the wall my hand this 14th day of August 1911. through the Wall of 1 FRED E. NORTON.

Witnesses JO N A. MCMANUS, JR,

ROBERT SHANVD. 

